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I just finished “not a fan” by Kyle Idleman. It was a very good book and where it does present Christians with a lot to think about, it also gave me a lot to think about in terms of church marketing.

Idleman’s main message in this book is more of a question, “are you a follower of Jesus or a fan?” He says, that the church can often times be at fault for creating more fans then followers. We have tried to make Jesus more attractive to people, so we focus on belief without putting the needed emphasis on following because following is hard.

We need to be aware that church needs to be about action. It is not just about the feeling but the action that comes from that feeling. In churches it cannot all be about creating feelings or generating emotions. You have to call people to action whether that action is death to self or walking out the door.

Churches cannot be so focused on growth and the numbers that all there is to show for it is lukewarm fans of Christ who take a seat when it’s time to follow.

I would strongly encourage this book, I would even challenge you to read it. It will open your eyes and cause you to question yourself and your church. Questions are not always bad, but you might not like the answers, but if you do not ask the questions then how will anyone grow?

Now that we are in the Christmas season, this is something that I have been thinking about. Christmas starts earlier and earlier every year. It was the beginning of November when I started hearing Christmas music and seeing the decorations go up. People were all too willing to get right past Thanksgiving. Now, Thanksgiving is simply a break from the work week to do Christmas shopping. I think we need to stop and take the holidays as they come. It is important to stop for Thanksgiving and be thankful for all that God has done. I think observing Thanksgiving also helps us to orient our thoughts and ourselves to Christmas. It helps focus on why we are so thankful for Christmas. With all the focus on shopping, I do find myself forgetting why I am so thankful for Christmas. Sometimes we can even lose this in our churches. I love the idea of churches doing advent services during the Christmas season. It helps to refocus everyone. I also think this is a good opportunity to invite people in. The churches look the best and we start the story from the beginning. I think that’s so important. So let’s try to stop and remember why we are thankful for Christmas.

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